Why most food we eat today is lacking in nutrients.
(What the result is and what to do about it).

There are five major reasons:

Earth and the human body are made up from 92 elements. These are however not spread evenly around the world. Gold does not occur everywhere. Selenium which has been shown to combat cancer and AIDS is almost non-existent in Australia’s soils. Water, which consists of hydrogen and oxygen, is on 70% of the earth’s surface and the body is 70% water, but water is relatively scarce in Australia when there are floods in other parts of the world. Thus the elements needed to grow nutritious fruit and vegetables are not always present in the soil. Plants cannot create them. The result is that while broccoli is considered generally a highly nutritious vegetable, in practice its nutrient content depends on the particular soil it was grown on. If an element is not in the soil it won’t be in the fruit or vegetable. Either this fact is not commonly understood or people are choosing to ignore it.

Conventional or “industrialised” farming methods produce over 90% of our food using large quantities of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and man-made chemical fertilisers that are both toxic and generally contain only a few of the 92 natural elements. Since World War Two the so-called “green revolution” has advocated N-P-K fertilisers, which as the name suggests primarily contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Calcium, magnesium and all the multitude of trace elements which have been proven to be necessary for a healthy balanced soil and nutritious food have been ignored.

For this reason the quality of the world’s farmlands has been declining steadily since the 1950s and organic matter has been destroyed by all the ever increasing quantities of toxic chemicals used in conventional farming. Organic matter 50 to 60 years ago used to average 5% of our soils. Today they average 1 to 1.5 %. What was once live soil full of billions of microbes, bacteria, worms and fungi is becoming dead soil. Industrial farming methods lead to soil erosion, salinization, desertification and loss of soil fertility. Chemical farming does however produce large quantities of food. Unfortunately quality has been forgotten. Conventional farming practices produce fruit, vegetables, grains and meats which contain only 20% of the nutrients compared to food produced over 60 years ago.


2. Did you know that tomatoes are our most popular food and they are typically sprayed with six chemicals every three days of their life? Another reason that our food is being ruined is in its processing, storage, transport and preparation. All four of these steps remove most of the nutrients left. Nutrient content generally declines over time, so buying food transported round the world and imported defeats the purpose if you are looking for food as a source of nutrition. Why buy food transported thousands of miles from California or even WA, Tasmania or Victoria to Queensland? It makes sense to buy food grown locally and best of all in your own garden where you know what goes into it. Remember good food tastes better.

3.Tinned and processed foods generally have preservatives in them to extend the shelf-life and kill microbes and bacteria. Many processes remove enzymes and nutrients. Preservatives’ job continues in the human body when you eat these foods i.e. the preservatives kill microbes and bacteria in your body. These “bad guys” that are being killed are really “good guys” in terms of digestion. Your intestines are supposed to have billions of them to properly digest the food you eat so that you can absorb any nutrients in the food. When we kill them, we get sick. We get stomach pains, indigestion, cancer, inflammation, flatulence and constipation. Today one of the biggest growth areas in the medical industry is looking after digestion problems.

With bought foods you get hundreds of different additives, flavourings and colourings. There are over 74,000 man-made chemicals used in commerce with about 2000 new ones being added each year. There are only 92 elements that make up the earth and the human body. So how is our body going to recognize over 74,000 new ones and how can we expect it to deal with them? Whether we are aware of it or not, we are being constantly bombarded by a host of chemical toxins which are affecting our health. The most insidious of these are the ones sold to us as “food”. In the book “The Chemical Maze” by Bill Statham it says “Researchers found that hundreds of individual chemicals, pollutants, and pesticides are pumped back and forth from the mother to the foetus through the umbilical cord blood. In total, the body’s blood had 287 chemicals including 209 never before detected in the blood of a foetus. Some of these chemicals can be harmful even at extremely low levels. For example only 5 parts per billion of PCBs in maternal blood during foetal development can cause adverse brain development and attention and IQ deficits, which appear to be permanent.”
Packaged foods have a series of codes on the labels that list the “non-food” content in what we are buying. How do you find out what the numbers refer to and which are harmful? This is the value of the book “The Chemical Maze”. It lists 296 additives (including the 25 that are allowed in Australian foods but are banned in countries overseas), rates them and details health problems that they may cause.
One would expect that a cereal bar, sold as a school lunch box food by a well known cereal manufacturer, would be beyond reproach. The reality is somewhat different from the image of wholesomeness, health and vitality which this company promotes in its advertising. This particular cereal bar contains seven chemicals described as numbers 492, 322, 171,102, 133, 124 and 472e. There is no indication as to what these numbers represent which makes the information worse than useless.
Both 124 and 133 originated as coal tar dyes. Additive no. 102 is “Tartrazine” and is thought to cause problems associated with asthma, headaches, concentration problems, depression, learning difficulties, behavioural problems, insomnia, confusion and on and on. These additives are banned in countries overseas and are thought to be carcinogenic.
It is not surprising that the company that manufactures this “food” lists the additives it uses in a type size that is so small that it takes a magnifying glass to read it.

4. Our cooking methods strip our foods of a large proportion of vitamins and minerals. Canned and highly processed foods are even more seriously depleted.
To digest our food we need enzymes. Most of these are manufactured by the pancreas. Food enzymes are also present in many raw foods. However all enzymes are deactivated at temperatures above 65 degrees Celsius. A diet composed exclusively of cooked foods puts a severe strain on the pancreas, resulting in a shorter lifespan, illness and lowered resistance to stress of all kinds. Dr Edward Howell, an enzyme expert, points out that humans on a diet made up largely of cooked food have enlarged pancreas organs while other glands and organs, especially the brain, actually shrink in size.
Most processed foods have few enzymes left. Pasteurised milk has had the enzymes killed. Raw milk has in it the enzymes necessary for the human body to be able to take up its calcium.
The type of cooking makes a big difference to the end result in terms of nutrient content. Steaming is much better than boiling. Frying, barbecuing and micowaving are all bad. Raw food is best of all, so eat a lot of fresh fruit and salads.

5.Microwaves are in most homes in the developed countries. Microwaves are used in most restaurants, cafes, milkbars and fast food outlets to warm food up. Did you know that microwaves were banned in the USSR back in 1976 when their economy had no companies and lobbyists to influence government—instead they listened to their scientists. In microwaves atoms, molecules and cells are subjected to massive doses of electromagnetic radiation to reverse polarity billions of times per second. Structures of molecules are torn apart and deformed generating new compounds previously unknown. A Swiss study in 1992 showed changes in the blood and a decrease in red blood cells consuming microwaved food. In particular there were significant decreases in nutritional value of all micowaved foods.

What is the result of this loss of nutrients?
The food we eat has lost much of its good taste, so we saturate it with sugar and salt.
This further contributes to the increasing rate of ill health and obesity.
One of the results of this loss of nutrients is the loss of taste and flavour.
It is often commented that while fruits and vegetables today are beautiful in appearance, they have lost the flavour they once had. Those who grow their own in soil that is rich soon appreciate the now rare superior flavour of produce that is grown with respect for the earth and its balance. As well as enjoying the delicious flavour of such fruits and vegetables, they also reap a harvest in health. There is a close connection between flavour and wealth in minerals: the fewer the minerals, the weaker the flavour.


Solution:
Dr. Linus Pauling, the only person to win two Nobel Prizes on his own, said all illnesses and diseases can be traced to mineral deficiencies. Dr. Willem Serfontein said: “Almost all diseases and afflictions, both mental and physical, can be traced back to nutritional deficiencies. The answer to optimal physical and mental health therefore lies in harnessing the power of nutrition.”
The world has an epidemic of health problems with increasing rates of cancer, obesity, diabetes and heart problems. Nutrient-rich food without herbicides and pesticides is the solution, but nearly all the world’s research is focussed on finding patentable drugs to sell to help alleviate the symptoms.
There is finally a reluctant acceptance that if you eat organic food you will live longer and in better health. A major study funded by the European Union concluded that organic food is more nutritious than ordinary produce and that it may help to lengthen people’s lives.

So the solution on a world-wide scale is to switch from conventional farming practices to organic or biodynamic farming methods. This would have several major benefits:
the food we eat would be more healthful, lowering the escalating cost of the world’s “health” system;
there would be a significant reduction in the release of CO2 into the atmosphere by farmers as organic matter levels in the soil increase instead of decreasing; as organic matter levels drop CO2 is released whereas if organic matter increases CO2 is absorbed back into the soil.
There would be less usage of oil in both farm equipment and fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides. This would extend the life of remaining oil or lower its price.
On a personal scale if you grow your own food you will be healthier and fitter. You may well also save money or make money if you sell surplus produce as food prices are very likely to continue to rise. You can also consider taking digestive food enzyme supplements prior to eating cooked food.
Written by Geoff Buckley. http://www.growinghealthyorganicfood.com/